Patris Mei Legato
by popculturerebel
Summary: Set after the events of SH3, Heather moves on with life and wanted to do something to repress some unwanted memories from her mind


"_The nightmare is finally over… my life is now at peace, despite all what happened, even if some of those events left permanent scars within me that cannot be healed easily"_

"_I can't believe it's been 7 friggin' years since those events that occurred; from those hellish adventures I had from Central Square, Hilltop, Brookhaven Hospital, to the creepy Lakeside Amusement Park and that chapel, glad those days are now behind me"_

The now 24 year old reincarnation of Cheryl and Alessa, Heather Mason, is now a college student taking up Literature and just relaxing at a park and freeing her mind from the nightmarish journey she's been through.

Next to her are some books by Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe, as she's reading one of the latter's works.

While reading, she looked around her, she sees people having all sorts of fun; jogging around, doing aerobics, having a small picnic, lovers dating, people walking their dogs and other stuff you typically see in the morning at the park.

"_Good to be back in society once again, and no fog either too" _happy by what she sees, she went back to reading until something caught her attention…and it's the least of what she would want to see

Heather sees a young girl running towards her parents and showing them the drawing she made, to which they approve of with delight and hugged her

"_Dammit, of all times, why now?" _feeling a bit uncomfortable witnessing the entire scenario before her

Ironically, she works part-time as a babysitter

**~TIMESKIP~**

"_Finally, done baby-sitting that brat; her parents seemed like nice people, I kinda felt bad for them, having to raise a spoiled little girl; unlike in my case, my dad raised me well and that's why I love him so much"_

Now far away from the house where she finished her shift…

"_That place, somehow it looks kinda familiar to me" _she squint her eyes for a better view

"_Hey, it's that cemetery, the very same place where I gave my dad…a proper burial"_

Seeing the certain place still gives her unpleasant memories until now; despite of it doing so, she entered the place to see if anything changed over the last seven years

"_Well, everything around here looks a bit different than the last time I was here…"_ she observed the area and did notice a few changes

"_I see some blooming flowers, a fountain which is quite a nice touch if I say so myself, a few benches here and there…"_

Walking around the small cemetery, she came across the graves of the people who loved her the most, the graves of Harry and Jodie Mason.

She also noticed a very big change since she gave her dad a proper burial years ago

"_Well here they are, where both of my parents are now…" _she kneeled in front of both and read the inscriptions on both graves

"_I don't have any memories of my mom much since she died when I was very little, and I was too young to remember it nor do I understand why Dad was so distraught at the time" _ observing her mother's grave

"_You may not be there for me much, but I will always keep you in my mind; I love you, mom"_

She then turned to Harry Mason's grave

"_This is where Douglas and I finally gave him a proper burial"_

Now looking at her beloved father's grave, she tried her best to control her emotions

"_I remember the __**very**__ last conversation we had together, I was at the mall running an errand for him; my last words to him we're __**I love you too, Dad**__" _she placed her hand on his grave, caressing the center which bears his name

She began having the repressed memory of how she discovered his dead body in the apartmentthey lived in.

"_His life shouldn't have ended too soon…" _then the image of the person responsible for his death came to her mind

"_Claudia…that bitch, why did she even do this?!" _ the thought of the person who ordered her father's death made her cringe, tightening her fist

"_I was supposed to kill that demented bitch… but instead I fought, as she liked to call it, "God" "_

Reading the bottom portion of the grave it reads: "Loving and devoted father"

"_Yep, those words really describe my dad"_

Memories of them both start lingering in her mind… some happy, some sad, but she cherished them all

She took out a photo from her wallet; it's a picture of her as a baby, being cuddled by Harry; she giggled a bit

"_Look at me, I look so cute in this picture… Ugh, I don't usually call myself that on a daily basis, but in this case, I'll make an exception"_

**~COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER~**

Heather now lives in a new apartment, sharing with her are her 2 new roommates and friends, Skylar and Meer; ever since the events that occurred, she moved out of Daisy Villa due to those unpleasant memories.

Happy and living a normal life once more in her new apartment (which is just a few blocks away from the college she's currently attending), the last of the Mason family, is having some quiet and alone time, reading magazines and listening to the radio, which finally has played some tunes instead of emitting static

Finished reading the latest issue about women's health, fashion and other stuff…

"Aww man, nothing but a good stretch to make me feel the urge of reading more" stretching her arms for a brief moment

She checked the time

"It's just 20:45, man that was quick" she noticed

"What to read next?" she checked her desk for anything interesting for her to read at

"Hmm? What's this?" she observed closely "its Dad's books, I forgot I brought them with me after moving away from Daisy Villa"

Wiping the dust off, she began reading some of them

"_Wow, my Dad's a better author than I imagined" _she said to herself, as she reads every unique combination of words per page

"_Because of my dad, I got interested in the works of Shakespeare and Poe because they're so awesome and cool, just like my dad"_

"That was quite a great piece of art my Dad made"

Done reading one book, she turned to the next one

"_I wonder what this book contains next" _and began reading it _"Whoa, this is a real thriller"_ intrigued, she read the book completely

After nearly an hour…

"Man that was a thrilling thing to read" she yawned, keeping the book

"I really should get some shut eye now…"

As she arranged all of her dad's works, she saw something fall from one of the books

"What's this?" picking it up from the floor, it's a piece of folded paper, she observed it

"Why haven't I seen this before?" _*opens it*_

"It's a letter…" she sat on her bed and began reading it

"My dear Heather,

I'm glad that you came to my world. You were perhaps the most precious thing I've ever had in my life. My life has been plunged into darkness before you came to my life. It was you that brought back my hope in this ever changing world that we live in. Oh Cheryl, how I raised you as my own, even when I'm alone, you're all I need that made me happy. Although I didn't raise you in a perfect way, at least I'm happy to see you all grown up to the big girl that you are now. If only your mother was here to see you right now. Heather my daughter, I couldn't imagine a world without you. I'm so happy to have you as a daughter and I'm proud to be your father"

Your loving father,

Harry Mason

"Wow, this was so sweet of him…" she smiled, touched by the letter's content

Her smile was short lived as the tragic memory of discovering him lifeless back in Daisy Villa hit her; she started sobbing quietly; some of her tears fell on the letter

"I wish you were still alive…" happy memories of the two started lingering in her mind

Overwhelmed by those thoughts…

"Dad…" she broke down, falling back on her bed though still holding the letter.

She placed it under her pillow.

"_This was our last photo together" _it shows them eating at Happy Burger together in Central Square

Looking at their last photo together, she cried herself to sleep.

**~SATURDAY, 5:30PM ~**

"Finally, I'm already halfway through" Heather sighed in relief while doing a research paper about one of her favorite authors, Stephen King

While doing so, a knock came on the door.

"Who could that be?" being cautious, she grabbed her stun gun and peeked through the door and much to her relief, it's just her two roommates.

"Oh it's just them" she put back her stun gun

"Heather!"

"Hey you two! Where you've been?"

"We've just been from Convenience Store 8 and bought some food for us for the whole week"

"Oh that's thoughtful"

"What's that?"

"It's my research paper"

"Ain't it due until the end of the month?"

"I know, but I figured that if I finished as soon as possible, I can finally relax"

"You have a point there" one of them placed the edible goods in the mini-fridge

"Say Heather, I'm confused"

"About what?"

"Is your real name Heather or Cheryl? Sometimes I hear other people call you Alessa"

She laughed for a moment "Well, to be honest my real name is Cheryl, but at some point my Dad renamed me Heather"

"I see… but what about Alessa?"

"That's kinda hard to explain" _*chuckles*_

"Alright then"

"Heather- I mean, Cheryl, there's a party going on at one of my friend's place, wanna tag along?"

"That'll be fun, but I have to finish-"

"Come on Heather, there's still a lot of days before the due date anyway"

"I suppose you're right" she saved her work and closed her laptop

"At a girl!"

"Where is the party anyway?" she wondered

"It's just near My Bestsellers"

"Oh nice…"

"So let's go?"

"You bet!"

"Come on Heather"

"Cheryl, we don't wanna be late"

"Yeah yeah, hold your horses" she secretly stuffed her stun gun with her

"_I'm bringing this not only for my safety, but also in honor of my dad…my worrywart dad"_

"OK, I'm all set"

"What we're you doing there?"

"Oh just making sure everything is locked"

"You're very concerned" all three had a laugh

**~SOME TIME LATER~**

"That was an awesome party!"

"Yeah totally!"

"Heather?"

"Yeah?"

"Looks like you didn't enjoy much as we did"

"What're you talking about? Of course I had fun!"

"Then what's with the look on your face?"

"Got tired after dancing too much"

"Yeah, we all danced like crazy"

As the three girls are on their way

"Hey umm guys?"

"Yeah?"

"Mind if we stop by My Bestsellers first?"

"Umm sure, why?"

"I just need more sources and information for my research"

"Alright sure…"

**~INSIDE MY BESTSELLERS~  
**

While her friends gaze and look at random magazines to their liking…

"Stephen King's such an awesome author" she glanced at some of the horror writer's works

After minutes of searching and decision making, she finally picked books of her choice

As she

"I guess these are enough" bringing a stack with her and purchasing them by the counter

**~TIMESKIP~**

A week after the party, Skylar and Meer are studying and at the same time chatting on Facebook while Heather resumed working on her research paper and next to her are some of Stephen King's notable works: _Carrie_, _'Salem's Lot_, _The Shining_, _The Stand_, _Misery_, _It_, and _The Dark Tower_

"What a relief I'm done with my research paper on Stephen King" she let out a sigh

"Not only did I bought these books for source, but I also start to feel attached to them"

Now done, she took a break for a while after excessive typing, she picked up _Carrie _and briefly glanced at it for a while

"He's such a great writer…" _*she turned to see a framed photo of him next to her* _"Just like you dad…" she smiled, feeling motivated

"I'll continue your legacy dad…"


End file.
